Experts to discuss the Australian Diaspora experience

Budding researchers will explore migrant and settler society experiences and the linked issues of language and culture at an upcoming UQ conference.

Rhizomes V: Language and Place will be held at UQ's St Lucia campus from February 4-5.

The conference will be hosted by the School of Languages and Comparative Cultural Studies (SLCCS).

Held annually since 2005, the event allows postgraduate students and early career researchers in the humanities and social sciences to engage in interdisciplinary dialogue on a particular theme.

Students and researchers also form the organising committee for the conference, which attracts speakers from Australian and international universities.

Topics this year include Celtic language proficiency in post-migrant Australia; the experiences of older Japanese people in South-east Queensland; political violence and diaspora; indigenous identities; and culture, migrants and the media.

Conference convenor Eduardo Moya Anton said the aim of the event was for participants to explore the subject of diaspora through the lens of language, place, memory, literature and identity.

“The success of former conferences, the rigour of their humanistic scope and ever-inviting ground for critical analysis and discussion make Rhizomes an academic landmark in the school since it began,” Mr Moya Anton said.

Keynote speakers include archaeologist Professor Ian Lilley, who will discuss diaspora and identity in settler societies, and Senior Lecturer in Japanese Dr Yuriko Nagata.

Regular registrations are open until February 1. For further information or to register, visit www.uq.edu.au/rhizomes or email rhizomes@uq.edu.au

Media: Eduardo Moya Anton or Ying-Hsiu Lu (07 3365 8872, rhizomes@uq.edu.au) or UQ’s School of Languages and Comparative Cultural Studies (07 3365 6311, slccs@uq.edu.au)